Went to a lovely big park today with my 8 year old and his friend. There is a lovely woodland section where the tree surgeons in the park stack wood with the purpose of children building a den. There was a woman with three younger kids and one older sat on a fallen log nearby. My son pulled a big stick off the pile, it disturbed the pile and sent a small twig falling onto the head of one of the children. My son apologised and said he didn't mean to do it. I was nearby so could hear everything. She asked him what his problem was.
I marched over told her that I'd heard it all and it had been a mistake and he had been sorry. She got up muttering something.
Half an hour later my son and his friend are dismantling another den which was no longer being used. An older man turns up and starts guarding it. Then an older child starts snatching bits from my son. I told him not to snatch. I should have known whose kid and father they were. Bloody wood pile mum comes rocking up muttering about how her son had been in the cafe having his dinner and now wanted to play in the den he made.
My argument is that you can't expect children to not dismantle things that they are supposed to dismantle and you can't expect something to still be there if you leave it. She was fucking nuts.